New Platform Workers Bill introduced in Parliament

27 August 2024

On 6 August 2024, the Platform Workers Bill (“Bill”) was tabled for first reading in Parliament. This Bill seeks to provide for:

  • the rights and obligations of platform operators and platform workers, including in relation to contributions to the Central Provident Fund 1953, work injury compensation, and workplace safety and health; and
  • the recognition, registration, regulation, and governance of platform work associations, and industrial relations between platform operators and platform workers.

The Bill was introduced following the Singapore Government’s acceptance in November 2022 of all 12 recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers (“Committee”) to strengthen protections for platform workers. The Committee was convened in September 2021 to look into strengthening protections for platform workers in three areas of concern: (i) ensuring adequate financial protection in case of work injury, (ii) improving housing and retirement adequacy, and (iii) enhancing representation. For more information, please see our article “Singapore Government accepts recommendations by Advisory Committee on Platform Workers to strengthen protections for platform workers”.

Scope of the Bill

The Bill seeks to set out the scope of the services and workers covered.

Platform services

The following are platform services for the purposes of the Bill:

  • delivery service;
  • ride-hail service.

These services must be provided in Singapore via a digital platform or other platform by a platform operator exercising management control in respect of the provision of that service by one or more platform workers of the platform operator.

Platform operator and platform worker

A “platform operator” refers to a person who provides a platform service in Singapore by (i) entering into a contract or other agreement with one or more service users to provide that platform service to those service users; and (ii) exercising management control in respect of the provision of that platform service by one or more platform workers of the person.

A “platform worker” refers to an individual who:

  • has an agreement (whether written or oral and whether express or implied) with a platform operator to provide a platform service in Singapore to service users for the platform operator;
  • is subject to the management control of the platform operator in respect of the individual’s provision of the platform service;
  • derives, under the agreement, any payment or benefit in kind from the individual’s provision of the platform service for the platform operator; and
  • is in Singapore when providing the platform service.

Housing and retirement adequacy

The Bill also seeks amend the Central Provident Fund Act 1953 (“CPF Act”) to implement measures to support the housing and retirement adequacy of platform workers. The Bill proposes to amend the CPF Act to require every platform operator to pay CPF contributions in respect of each platform worker of the platform operator. The CPF contributions must be made in accordance with a new Fourth Schedule to be introduced in the CPF Act.

Workplace safety and work injury compensation

The Bill also seeks to amend the Work Injury Compensation Act 2019 and the Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006 to provide for the rights, obligations, protections, and representation of platform workers and platform operators under those Acts.

Reference materials

The Platform Workers Bill is available on Singapore Statutes Online sso.agc.gov.sg.